Joli Jalie weekend - part 2, aka: thinking out of the envelope

My 3rd Jalie tee was this fine little leopard (meow!). I had only 80 cm of it. Because it had a repeating vertical pattern, something had to be done to ensure the fabric wasn't all nilly-willy, so this is all I could do: barely below-elbows sleeves, and NO neck-warmer. Boo hoo. I did consider placing the sleeves so that they'd be dark along the outside (matching the body) but that would've placed bright spots in my armpits - nyeh. I chose "look-at-me" biceps instead.  Notice I rounded the Vee neck for a low-crew neck look.  And notice the matching front&back skunk-leopard stripes down the centre. And how nicely the neck binding is matched to what's below it. 

With all of the above well under control, I decided I have just the ticket to verify how the true crew actually plays, all the while ALSO trying out a child's version.  

This one is size P (31" chest) - in a nice beefy cotton knit, my FM freebie (thank you, FM!  yes some of you will recognize the shade for my rusty coral cashmere coat's interlining).  The kid's actually a size smaller, but he's a Real Boy - trust me, he'll never want to wear skintight clothing. The tee fits (though the sleeves are a tad too long) and the kid's cute, trust me.

[Mom-brag-alert:  I made the pants too - a washable wool-poly herringbone, yes they're dreadfully saggy now because the elastic's died & gone to heaven after too many cycles in the dryer, but he swears they're the warmest, comfiest pants he has. He wore them round the clock in winter - two winters, as a matter of fact, as he's already outgrown last year's version from the same fabric (that's why sewing for kids is such a THANKLESS chore) - END of Mom-brag]

My thinking out of the envelope moment came when I foolishly visited Fabricland to replace a double needle I broke (grrrr) on a pin yesterday afternoon, and came home with, um, a couple (three, actually) more knits for tees, plus.....

..... this crinkle rayon. I love its colour scheme - it's VERY ME, red and black, with a touch of gold, white, and brown thrown in.  Not a knit, but I applied it to the Jalie tee pattern nevertheless.  Because it's a woven, I widened all vertical seams (including the sleeves) about 0.5 cm.  I needn't have bothered: the sleeves are very loose, as is the hem. I rounded the neck again, but it gapped a bit, so I took two little tucks to make it rectangular instead - you can see it quite well on the right.  The left-over scrap became a cowl:

It's a Moebius band, ie, a single loop with a half-twist: I like it!

(((Gratuitous sexy hubby shot (I'm feeling first-day-of-spring-silly):  just look at those giant come-hither paws! Swoon!!!     Disclaimer: I made NOTHING that's he's wearing - not even his tee!)))

I have some more knits. The left one is a poly, in a deliberate experiment to see how poly knits actually wear. For example, do they breathe?

...but really, all of the above are but an exercise in advance of turning these two silk jerseys into something wearable:

I promise not to burden you with any more tees.  Unless they're silk, or make me look like a stick of dynamite in mid-kaboom, or something at least as interesting.